Field of Invention
The application relates to the field of communications and more particularly to an apparatus for and method of generating a new event from a document.
Description of the Related Prior Art
As will be understood by those in the art, a user can enter text into an email in plain text and certain recognizable elements or patterns of the plain text can be translated or displayed using hypertext markup language (html) hyperlinks for added functionality. For example, when an email address, a universal resource locator (URL) or a phone number is entered into an email, a hyperlink can be generated. For example, a typed email address could appear in html as:
<A HREF=“mailto:john.doe@testsite.com”>john.doe@testsite.com<A>
The hyperlink usually appears as underlined text in a contrasting colour. When the email is displayed, the hyperlink can be used to invoke an application. In the above example, if john.doe@testsite.com is selected by the recipient, a new email message could be generated and john.doe@testsite.com would be inserted into the “TO:” field of the new email message. Similarly, if a hyperlinked URL is selected by a user, a browser application is automatically opened and the page identified by the URL is displayed. In the case of a phone number, a dialing application is invoked and the number is dialed.
As those skilled in the art will appreciate, many times, a user will receive a meeting invitation in the form of an email rather than a formal meeting request created through a calendar application like Microsoft® Office Outlook®. Alternately, many times a discussion occurs via an email thread which ultimately results in a meeting to resolve outstanding issues. In either case, if the user wishes to create an event based on the originating email, the user must open an application and create the event by manually entering the event details, or cutting and pasting from the originating email thread. Although this works adequately, it would be preferable if an event could be easily generated in an application directly from the originating email.